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atxlxs · 3 years ago

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Beyond The Veil: Chapter 5

The assessment test was pretty consistent.

Those that had the quirks suited for it at first glance had dominated while the rest all seemed to get variations of the same base score. Some slightly better, some slightly worse. This made it pretty easy for Muska to just, consistently get good scores.

When your quirk, *cough* and other things *cough*, essentially affects anything and everything as long as the energy itself isn’t being used by something else it becomes easy to just enhance everything.

Ball throw? More like sniper propulsion. Long jump? Ha, more like flying to the opposite side. Grip strength? She doesn’t even need to touch it. Just contract the energy surrounding the mechanism. Flexibility? She used to do ballet, like, a century ago but muscle memory counts.

She had some tests she couldn’t do well, like the endurance test. She was here to train her quirk after all. Plus the longer the tests went on the harder it was to continue. If she continued at the level she was doing, she’d have one hell of a headache. It was starting to hurt as well. Every time she tried to go over her limits, using the energy actually hurt so she’d rather avoid that.

By the end of it all, Muska had placed a solid 3rd place. Beating out Robocop and PomPom (Bakugo), looking down the list with curiosity, Muska cringed at Midoriya taking last place. The kid definitely couldn’t regulate the energy belonging to his quirk, which felt really weird whenever Muska looked into it, and had broken his finger on the ball throw. However, what she didn’t expect was the feeling of mirth coming off of Aizawa.

Wait a damn minute.

The fucker wouldn’t.

“It was a logical ruse to make you all perform at your best capabilities.”

The fucker did.

Now, even as the class started shouting once more that evening, Muska was highly focused on the man in front of her. That was a lie. He lied about it being a ruse. The energy had fluctuated just slightly when he said ruse, going from mirth to a hazy feeling. The indescribable experience one goes through when they white lie or bluff.

He was going to expel the person who came in last. Something changed that though. What the fu- Oh. Ooooh.

“...If you won’t take this seriously as the hero in training students you are…”

The bastard was judging our potential and disguised it as an assessment!

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Rat-man hadn’t given Muska a map, either expecting her to ask someone to help or look at the map and guess. She would do neither. Asking for help would warn them beforehand and she might be waved off considering it was a staff meeting. Secondly, she just doesn’t want to.

Instead of her quirk, Muska closed her eyes and felt around the harmony. Surprisingly, the school was ‘clean’ for the most part. A few dark patches here and there but nothing horrendous. That was when she noticed it. A room towards the top of the fourth tower, left side in the back away from the gate, was filled with several aged energies. One of which seemed to be escaping slowly towards something else. That was weird, but definitely where she needed to be.

It took 10 minutes of dedication to get to the tower needed, and 10 more to not stab the principal on sight after she got up the stairs and walked over to a steel door that had a key code. Disregarding the key code box since she definitely didn’t know said code, she decided that knocking in the tune to “Crab Rave” was a good alternative.

The door opened before the first verse was done to a very confused woman in spandex. Giving her a smile, it definitely had an annoyed flair to it since she could be at home and forcing Eras to be cooking right now, Muska slipped past her and into the meeting room. The Rat-man stood on the large table, surrounded by pro hero’s (based on the flashy getups…. Is that a horse gas mask?) and seemed to be in the middle of something. A beat of silence followed as Muska walked over to an empty chair near the front, it looked to be Nedzu’s but the short rat-man didn’t need it, and sat down. Pulling out her phone and starting to scroll through Tiktok. It was an old app but it stayed strong through the years and was still running.

“Uh, whatsa youngin like ya doin here?” Horse gas mask man asked. The heroes all subtly nodded along, too shocked by her nonchalant actions about crashing a very obvious faculty meeting.

Muska’a face twisted into a small frown as she turned her attention up to see the man. Aizawa, who she just now noticed was sitting at the back corner of the table, was just glaring down at Nedzu. Smart move and he was right.

“First of all, don’t call me youngin, I can guarantee I'm older than you. Second of all, ask Remy the rat here for that info.” Muska stated, about to return to her phone before perking up again and continued, “Also rat-man, if you want answered questions they better be done before 5, I have pasta being cooked by a glorified 5 star chef waiting at home.”

Several heroes choked, Aizawa hid a snort into his scarf, at her words. Nedzu, the fiend, just smiled wider.

“Of course!” The chimera chirped.

Yes chirped, maybe he had some bird DNA mixed in?

“I wouldn’t want to keep you too long! Faculty, this is Viridis Muska, Viridis, these are the pro heroes on staff that I trust to keep their mouths shut under oath of an NDA! Your guardian was kind enough to email it over to me this afternoon.”

Muska snorted at that. “Yea sounds like her.” Placing her phone face up on the table next to her, she tapped on the table expectantly as the Rat took his sign to continue.

“The most obvious question should probably be first and I know my dear staff are confused, what did you mean by you being older?”

It was an innocent question, she’ll answer it.

“Why Remy, that's cause unless Humanity has managed to surpass their expected due date of at max 120 years, then I am very much so older.”

The room was filled with confusion. It radiated off them in waves as distress rose at getting such vague answers. Aizawa in the corner sighed and snapped his gaze from the rat to her.

“I’m sure what the rat meant to ask was how old are you exactly and how did you reach that age.” Aizawa stated. Clear and concise.

“Of course, if I remember correctly I should be turning 267 this year,” she said, not pausing even when coffee was spat all over the table from a few of the people around the room, “and I was born a human, however upon entry into the veil and my chosen profession as a witch, I was changed. Reaching the height of my craft has allowed me to unlock certain aspects of my being, immortalizing my body for now. I’m still technically in my ‘teen’ years considering the average witch you’ll meet has passed a thousand years in some capacity.”

Aizawa ran a hand down his face in exasperation and a quiet mumble of “fucking problem ch- witch” escaped. A few other heroes were pale, and the spandex woman looked very intrigued. A twink with blond hair that had the weird energy actually coughed up blood. Muska’s gaze snapped to him at that. The need to heal over writing her focus for a moment before Nedzu cleared his throat for attention again.

Reluctantly she returned her gaze to the rat. If she didn’t know any better she would have thought he was undisturbed. She did, however, know better. The rat was practically vibrating where he stood in excitement.

“Viridis, do you think you could give us a basic rundown of the veil?” Nedzu quizzed, looking more and more like the sadistic researcher he was. Fuck, He's just like the elves.

Muska leaned back and sighed. She expected this and went over it with eras last night. They came up with what could, or couldn’t be talked about for the beginning until they were all deemed trustworthy.

“I can give you a short, very short compared to all the details of the veil, summary but frankly the veil doesn’t want certain info getting into certain hands.” She said, voice cold and steely. She would not be taking a no for this.

“I understand! Anything you can trust us with for now would help the mystery that has been plaguing me for years.” Nedzu said, which caused Muska to cackle a bit.

“I know, the… reps of certain races and collectives have placed bets on when and who would slip and give you the info at some point.” watching with amusement as Nedzu’s whiskers twitched, she sighed and leaned forwards. Pointing a finger at the white board behind her.

Nedzu, who of course understood exactly what that meant, nodded.

Muska stood up and grabbed three markers. One black, one green, and one red. Taking the black marker, she drew a large circle and wrote ‘The Veil’ above it. Uncapping the green marker, Muska spoke up as she marked off sections in the circle with black and labeled them in green.

“In the veil there are set collections and races. I, as a witch, belong to the group called Magia.” Magia was written in a section taking up a 5th of the circle, “It's a collective that represents those who follow magically tied professions, no matter the race you are, since once you become a part of what defines the Magia you are assigned this section. Of course like nations there is also dual representation. However, that's more complicated and this is the short version.”

A quick glance told Muska that everyone in the room was listening with rapt attention. Especially Aizawa and Nedzu, one more concealed than the other.

“Next is the elvish. Yes, elves, and yes, they are very pretentious. The younger ones are more lax and ready for mischief, but the elders tend to be stuck in their ways or research. God the research they do. They’re called the scholars of the abyss. Do you need to know something? Ask an elf. They write and read practically everything there is to write and read.” Another section gets cut off and labeled.

“Then there's the dwarves, oh and I’m listing these in population order as is the sectioning. The more people the bigger the section and so on. I’ll get to influence later. Back to dwarves. They aren’t all blacksmiths as myth leads you to believe but they do make the best weaponry and armor. You can find quite a few in engineering professions. A lot find jobs in mixology and brewing as well.” Another section. So far all are labeled with green.

“Next is the Vampires. These guys are incredibly important in the veil since they were the first members of it. Treated the closest to monsters, they had to run away from society's view earlier than loved races like elves and dwarves. Hell, even witches had some supporters when Halloween started to become a festive rather than a lore holiday. If you want to truly know about the veil? Then ask a vampire. They have every secret tucked away and safe guarded by their Origins.” Muska said, a small mischievous smirk was hidden as they faced the board. The energy shift in Nedzu told her the first time he met Eras would be cathartic considering it's her quirk registry game that led her here.

“Next is a much smaller group called the Fae. They are everything you’ve read and more. Do not engage with them until you’ve gone through Celtic mythology. You’ll become moss like that. I fuckin hate the imps sometimes.”

“In a more general group are the smallest numbers. Collectively known as the ‘inbetween’ these members range from the sirens in the waters to the spirits that haunt the earth and fuel the energy. Demons fall under here too but they rarely visit earth and always do so under contract so they don’t have much of a voice. Dragon descendants too, the last of the actual dragons died thousands of years ago but their blood lines are in half dragons. They have wings on some, horns and scales on others, but all carry the boiling blood of their predecessors.”

Muska took a deep breath after labeling one of the last spaces with green. Capping it, she uncapped the red and wrote a bold ‘FORGOTTEN’ in the smallest space. Turning around she dropped all smiles and pleasantries. Voice harsh and cold as she spoke venom with every word.

“Never, ever, look for those in the forgotten. They do not have representation but they are known and branded. A red circle with a line in the middle along with text that only certain people can read is their symbol and it's burned into their skin. The forgotten are the, essentially, criminals of the veil. The veil is filled with people of dubious legalities to humans but there is a special place to rot for those that cross veil taboos. Whether it’s a necromancer practicing on those that are alive, or a vampire who has gone blood crazy and slipped into the view of humans as food. Elves committing experimentation on live creatures for research or sirens drowning sailors into the ocean out of amusement. These are all examples of forgottens who get branded soon after they are recognized.”

The air seemed stale as Muska ran her glare over the heroes present. Even Nedzu shuddered as the energy in the room seemed to freeze and burn those that took too deep of a breath despite not actually happening.

The heroes nodded once they realized she was looking for a response and her gaze softened but still held a serious edge to it.

“The brands are placed by chosen representatives of the race where the forgotten came from. The representative is chosen by a council meeting between the heads of each race, the heads themselves are chosen by vote or position within the race and the job is carried out within 24 hours of discovery.”

Speaking of the representatives of races,

“Any questions before I head home for my fuckin pasta?”

(She just really wants her pasta)

Tags:

@baguettehead

#bnha #mha #mhafanfic #bnhafanfic #mha oc #au

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mrsarnasdelicious · 4 years ago

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Nyarlathotep and the Multiverse

“He is horrible—horrible beyond anything you can imagine—but wonderful.”

- HP Lovecraft

The Earth is his toy marble and he is going to play with it until he’s exhausted it and banged it up beyond all recognition. He cares little for the life on it. We are his playthings. He is only after his own gain, be it academic or pure enjoyment. Knowledge is his power, but he is unknowably powerful.

To see his true form is to go mad. Thus Nyarlathotep dwells amoung human in a human form. Sometimes he also disguises himself as an animal. He prefers the form of cats and birds. He has many faces. His most well known face is The Black Pharaoh, a dark skinned and regal looking man. He’ll walk among he crowds in a dark purple cloak, decorated with black scroll work. He will talk in a voice that sounds the way molten dark chocolate tastes. This face of his is the observer and the scholar. In this guise he learns and teaches. But beware his teachings, for they all lead to the breaking of mankind’s feeble mind.

But his favourite face is The Crawling Chaos. It is an unassuming, appealing face. No one would suspect this face to be a Terrible and Elder creature. His this guise he speaks with a decidedly British accent and interacts very freely with humanity. But this guise is also the most Trickster like. The Crawling Chaos is a very wicked aspect of Nyarlathotep. He loves causing indeed just that, Chaos. Is will strike deals with humans as though he is a cross roads demon, making their wildest dreams come true before ruining their sanity entirely. He will openly talk about The Necronomicon and the other Elders. He’ll flirt and party and find himself powerful friends.

The Moon Presence is Nyarlathotep’s least assuming face. By all means he looks like a short harmless Asian man. But in fact The Moon Presence is concentrated aggression and arousal. This is the form he uses most often to engage with humans in a sexual way most of the time or to deal physical harm. If you see this face, you know you have messed up and he will come and hurt you. The Moon Presence guise also lays claim to dominance over the werewolf race, though this is debatable.

Many great names in history have been speculated to be aliases of This Elder God. He has laid claim to the named Nicola Tesla, Nostradamus, Rasputin and even H P Lovecraft himself. It is not sure, of course, about which of these names he is lying and what other historic figures might just have been Nyarlathotep taking the micky with humanity. He however has denied involvement in either of the world wars. He likes chaos, but outright war bores him greatly, unless a lot of supernatural creatures are involved. That of course means a lot more disaster and destruction to enjoy. He has, hoever, expressed his interest in the minds of Himmler and Mengele. Their minds, not their work.

Supernatural Verse: Oh Nya would have a heck of a time fucking with Sam and Dean. He would use very different methods to get to each brother. He’d get to Dean in his woman form, be it as a damsel in distress or a fellow hunter. She’d continually in his ear, playing into Dean’s every insecurity. Sam is much easier to get to. The Black Pharaoh will offer Sam knowledge beyond compare. He will lure Sam away with the promise of great learning.

Doctor Who/Torchwood: Oh you know this show has so much opportunities for this Ancient Alien. Because that is in his core, what Nyarlathotep is. He would appear in all his different guises and he would not get along with each Doctor is equal measures. He’d prefer the less stable Doctor’s, such as 6, 8, 9 and 11. His greatest antipathy would be for 4 and 10, who are too heroic for Nya’s taste. Sometimes Nya would allign with the master and sometimes he would make his way to Torchwood or UNIT to see how he could meddle there. Sometimes he would help, sometimes he would ruin things, depending on his mood. But in the end he will team up with The Doctor, to commit to the downfall of Cybermen and Dalek kind. These two species piss Nya off beyond control. Their extremely destructive tendencies throw a wrench in his fun and they have to go. The partnership will be very reluctant, especially on The Doctor’s part. But Nya will keep his word. Of course, until the Dalek and Cyberman are whiped out.

Teen Wolf: Nya’s role in Teen Wolf is much less in person. But the Dread Doctors have something decidedly Lovecraftian. Mayhaps Nya gave them their powers. Or mayhaps he is pulling the strings on which they are puppets. Either thought is an interesting one to contemplate.

The Umbrella Academy: Mysterious Pregnancies. Now that has Nya’s signature all over it. Especially in Ben’s case. He might or might not out himself to any of his children. Maybe even in the past, he has taunted Reginald about it.

The Witcher: Are you kidding!?! The world of the Witcher would be a treasure trove of knowledge and madness for Nya. He would absolutely enjoy himself there, just wandering and learning and causing a little rukus now and then. He’ll visit the old vampires and the powerful magicians. Maybe he’ll even happen upon our own Geralt of Rivia. And Geralt will have no patience for him. Maybe that makes Nya find pestering Geralt all the more fun.

American Gods: F*ck yeah! Nya is out there breaking all the rules and messing with all the other gods. Ibis and Jaquel might actually know him. He will not take a side but mess with everyone equally. Sweeney would hate him, but Nya would find it amusing to unlock Lugh in him, after which the Irishman has a grudging sort of respect for the Elder God. Nya will maintain a good relationship with other Trickster gods, like Loki and Nancy. To Nancy he will be The Black Pharaoh and to Loki he will be The Crawling Chaos. Oh and how he will looooove antagonising Wednesday!!!

Cursed: The Fae might quite fascinate Nyarlathotep. But no one would interest him more than Merlin, after all, who hasn’t heard of the Arch Mage. He’ll try to make a friend out of Merlin, while also testing how much knowledge the Druid’s mind can take. He would LOVE fucking with the red monks. Not to mention he would study all the different races of Fae to the fullest extend.

Stranger Things: Oh Nya would want to know everything about the Upside Down. He would he in Hawkins poking his nose into everyone’s business. He’ll pretend to befriend Joyce and once the Russians establish themselves he will of course slither into their game as well. He needs to know!

Avengers: Oh he would so be on the hero side in this fight. How dare Thanos think he is allowed to wield so much power! Nya would probably think of the Stones as his property, too. He would not overtly aid The Avengers, but he’d leave clues and subtly deal with obstacles. He’s visit Stark and Thor in his Dark Pharaoh guise and give Loki some valuable advice with his Crawling Chaos face. He’ll not get too involved, but would also not want to let this go. Not to mention that he and Doctor Strange will have intruiging conversations to say the least.

The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel: Oh this is the grand scheme! So many gods and so many powerful people. Oh it is like the biggest came of multi dimensional chess. He’ll pretend to be everyone’s double spy and have his fingers stirring every single pot. He might reveal himself to Dagon, he might not. He might even try to nick the Codex from Nicholas. Oh he is all over the place and everyone is troubled by him.

The Elder God, when he is not mingling in others lives, resides in a Glass Pyramid in a pocket dimension in the jungle in Brazil. It is not easy to find him, but if he wants to be found, adventurers might accidentally stumble into this dimension. He keeps Jackal headed servants and a menagerie of mythical creatures.

Once you are in his realm, you are not getting out. You are his toy now.

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spellscarred · 5 years ago

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♠, ♔, ♦, ☮, ✮

SEND ME A ♠ FOR ME TO DESCRIBE A FAVOURITE RP I’VE BEEN IN.

So there was this RP years ago, about angels and demons on a submarine to fight a big bad evil that lurked in the depths that threatened existence. I don’t really remember the details of it, but that was a really fun and interesting RP. We never did find out what the big evil was, because the admin had to take a hiatus and demanded that we all stopped RPing because he didn’t want to miss anything, and that more or less killed the RPG, but for those few weeks it was really cool and interesting. Would’ve loved to see how that would’ve worked out.

SEND ME A ♔ FOR ME TO DESCRIBE A FAVOURITE RP CHARACTER OF MINE.

Let’s be real, anyone who knows me knows I fucking love my disaster bi Finn McGinty. In August, he’s gonna be like, six years old, and while he’s changed over the years, the core of him is still there.

Basically, he comes from a rough, fighty family who believes helping/protecting people is the number one priority. His parents are rowdy-boy-turned-art-curator and his best friend who always supposed him, and he looooooves his parents. His pa (the best friend) is super frustrated with Finnán at all times because Finn only listens to his da (the rowdy boy), and his da just... lowkey enables his chaotic shit so long as it’s harmless.

His da also instilled Finn’s love of art of any and all kinds in him, and the importance of it. He’s ridiculously smart but like thrives on being a fucking dumbass, like his own idiocy sustains him; he’s argumentative and honestly kind of an insensitive prick at times, but he’s very protective of people and half his assholery comes from the fact that he doesn’t usually think before he speaks and he’s unintentionally blunt about the things he says. Then he like gets confused why people are mad at him, lmfao.

He’s a classical archaeologist and Egyptologist (because those three cultures had so much interaction at one point, it kinda comes as a given), and a polyglot, and he has an intense love of language and the written word. Finn’ll honestly read anything you give him (even if he disagrees with it, because to his logic, if you know what the other side is arguing, it’s easier to tear those arguments to shreds), and while he loves art and history, he is very against the private ownership of ancient artefacts. He wholeheartedly believes that artefacts should remain and be displayed in the country of origin, and... well.. he’s very Chaotic Good in the sense that, he’ll do illegal shit for the right reasons, and yes, he will go behind Western museums backs to make sure artefacts stay in their countries of origin.

My favourite part about Finn is that... he’s incredibly charming and always has a grin on his face, which hides the fact that he has clinical depression, which he feels incredibly guilty about, and there’s some days he can’t even get out of his bed because he feels so shit, which makes him feel worse, because he has everything he ever wanted, and he still has a hard time being happy some days. My other favourite part about him is how much he loves his parents and his older biological brother. Nothing gets him more excited than the prospect of seeing his older brother, whether they’re teenagers or in their thirties, the boy will legit just jump in Loch’s arms and cling to him for as long as Loch’ll put up with it (which usually is quite a while, because the feeling is mutual). And no matter how much he roasts his da to his face, he fucking adores that man, like he’s a real daddy’s boy, he can’t go without talking to his da at least once a week, it makes him miserable.

SEND ME A ♦ FOR ME TO DESCRIBE A PLOT THAT I’VE BEEN WANTING TO DO.

Not really a plot, I guess, but WORLD OF DARKNESS STUFF! Which is why I made @coteriesrp that I’m super excited for.

SEND ME A ☮ FOR ME TO DESCRIBE AN AMAZING RP EXPERIENCE.

Anything I do with my best friend, honestly. We’ve been friends since I was 16 and she was like... 13, I guess? And man. I just love everything we’ve done over the years, whether it’s retired plots, old verses, inactive ships. Doesn’t matter. She asks me, “do you wanna do anything?” every night, and if I were a puppy, I’d be wagging my damn tail so long it might fly off even after 15 years.

SEND ME A ✮ FOR ME TO TALK ABOUT MY FAVOURITE FANDOM TO RP IN.

So obviously World of Darkness, but that’s a given. I guess aside from that, my favourite fandom to RP in might be the Elder Scrolls? Is it obvious that I love fandoms with incredibly thick and complex lore and extensive timelines? It’s just... because there’s so much lore, and because the timeline spans millennia, there’s room to do and make your own thing, which is the same reason I love the World of Darkness. Fandoms whose timelines are so unimaginably vast that you’d need a scholar’s attention to not only understand but remember it means that... ultimately... the timeline doesn’t really matter. It just means there’s history, and it leaves room for your little stories in different times. If that makes sense.

#regentrps

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seahaloed · 4 years ago

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Dumat Artifacts

Shepard repossesses the Dumat Artifacts and the inert Shrine itself from the Warden Prison in Vimmark only a few months after her initial visit.

Her original intent is to sell them to a collector or perhaps see if the Black Emporium has any interest in them. Xenon refuses to let her in when she so much as mentions them, as such they gain dust in the Amell vault until sometime during her tenure as Viscount of Kirkwall when her lineage is uncovered and there is a growing interest in the items in her collection.

She ultimately decides to keep them, and eventually passes them onto the Inquisition once the fact that the Elder One is revealed to be Corypheus.

The Artifacts themselves are unextraordinary and made mostly from Obsidian:

Crown of Dumat - Made from Obsidian and Silverite with markings with known connections to the priesthood and worship of Dumat.

Dumat's Sacrificial Dagger - a small dagger seemed to be made entirely of obsidian, there seems to be an indent for some sort of vial within the handle and hidden mechanism in the decorative handle of the blade.

Dumat's Ritual Scroll - Written in Ancient Tevene, Hawke originally thought the scroll to detail the ritual related to the Shrine found in the Warden Prison, upon further research it is simply a very early version of the Verses of Dumat, predating most previously found writings of the Verses there are some differences in word choice that might have meaning if a scholar could study it.

Sacred Urn of Dumat - The Urn itself is small, similar in size to one that you might see if a Mortalitasi was preparing a body for burial in Nevarra. It could be held in one hand but was heavier than its size would indicate. There was the sound of liquid inside the Urn, but closer inspection would reveal that is entirely carved of obsidian, and the lid does not open. When retrieving the artifacts, Shepard found the Urn broken and had assumed that the damage had been from when the Warden Prison had collapsed.

Chain of the Penitent - The necklace received from doing the ritual is enchanted similarly to the other items of the Altar. The age of the Enchantments do me they are not as strong as they once were. The amulet itself is a small disk of Silverite with Dumat’s symbol emblazoned on one side while the other side denotes the general priesthood of the Old Gods. The amulet was probably owned or enchanted by a High Priest of the order sometime after the disappearance of Barindur.

#||have you heard the tale of the champion?|| (headcanon: Shepard Hawke)#finally got the inspo to write this stuff up

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bloodstone--circle · 6 years ago

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Akatosh, Dragon God of Time

Akatosh is arguably one the best-known Divines in Tamriel, with him, Lorkhan, and Mara being the three most widely spread across the continent. He is the chief deity of the Imperial Cult, and reigns as the leader of the religion of the Nine (or Eight) Divines. Since the Divines were, and still are, the official religion of many of the human empires throughout Tamriel’s history, this puts Akatosh in a very powerful position.

Akatosh represents the qualities of endurance, invincibility, and a kingly, eternal legitimacy. It is he who was the first of the gods to form, with the other gods following his lead and creating the pantheons of the world. Only after his “birth” did Time start, and thus Akatosh is also the God of Time.

Temples and Blessings

Temples and Chantries to Akatosh are numerous, with his shrines being prominently displayed in both the Temple of the One in the Imperial City of Cyrodiil, and in the Temple of the Divines in Skyrim’s Solitude. In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, activating one of his shrines grants a 10% increase in magicka regeneration, along with the usual curing of diseases. In previous games, his blessing also bestowed an increase of Speed.

Verse

Come to me, Akatosh, for without you, my resolution falters, and my pen is still and dry, though all the seas were full of ink, and the sky my parchment of dawn.

Pocket Guide to the Empire, Third Edition: Foreword Imperial Geographic Society, 3E 432

Amulet of Kings

Akatosh had an artifact known as the Amulet of Kings which he crafted in the First Era. Akatosh is chief of the Aedra, and so when he saw the Alyeids (Mer descended from the ancient Aldmeri) took the early Men as slaves, he took pity on them. He drew his godly blood directly from his own heart and bestowed it upon a Nedic slave woman named Alessia, blessing her with the blood of dragons. With this gift, he made a Covenant that so long as Alessia’s bloodline were true to the dragon blood he had given, Akatosh himself would endeavor to seal the Oblivion Gate for good, denying the armies of Deadra and undead their slavers, the Alyeids, used against them. The Amulet of Kings was then given to her, along with the Eternal Dragonfires which would ward Nirn against the plane of Oblivion. Alessia then went on to found the Cryodillic Empire and become to first Empress, later being canonized as “Saint Alessia.”

Aspect of Akatosh

During The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, the aspect of Akatosh was summoned to Nirn after the Hero of Kvatch and Martin Septim failed to light the Dragonfires, resulting in Mehrunes Dagon invading Nirn. Septim then sacrificed himself and the Amulet of Kings to summon the Aspect of Akatosh. The Aspect of Akatosh and Mehrunes Dagon fought in the ruins of the Temple of the One in the Imperial City, leading to Mehrunes Dagon’s defeat and the Aspect turning into a statue. It stood there ever since as a reminder. It is unclear if it still stands after the Aldmeri Dominion’s invasion of the Imperial City in the Fourth Era.

Akatosh and Alduin

Imperial scholars have long speculated that, due to Akatosh’s near-omnipresence in Tamriel religions, Alduin might be the name which those ancient Nords new Akatosh by. Due to the violent nature of Alduin in history, some Nords have declared this a mischaracterization, maintaining Alduin and Akatosh are separate, if not related, beings. Alduin has called himself Akatosh’s first born, and the dragon Paarthurnax refers to him as Akatosh’s “most claimed creation.” Some sources try to find the answer by claiming that Alduin embodies an aspect of Akatosh.

Akatosh’s other names in Tamriel are, reportedly, Auri-El to the Elves, Alkosh to the Khajiit, and Alduin to the Nords.

UPG and Real-World Applications

Shrines to him in TES V: Skyrim are of a dragon with a sword, and that is exactly what I suggest having on a shrine with space dedicated to him! My own altar has a depiction of a Dragon, along with a dagger with a dragon design on the hilt. Hourglasses, clocks, and amethyst all are appropriate, as well! (Crafting a Shrine of Akatosh in TESV: Skyrim requires a Flawless Amethyst, along with an Amulet of Akatosh, an Iron Ingot, and a Corundum Ingot).

Akatosh is radiates a powerful energy, and I often find it energizing when I need it. He is the Aedra of endurance, of kingship, and whenever I need reminding that I have the power to meet my goals and become the Queen of my own life, his example is irreplaceable!

I also find that his presence is invaluable when I preform Draconic magic. The Dragon spirits I encounter almost all happen to at least respect him, as the Father of Dragons and the Dragon God, often depicted as a Golden Dragon himself. Along with this help, due to his shrines granting a magicka regeneration buff, I often sit and meditate to recharge myself after a particularly draining ritual or even to help add energy to the ritual while in progress!

Edit: Forgot the Verse

Sources:

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Elder Scrolls Wiki: Akatosh, Alduin, Alyeid, Alessia, Dragonfires, Shrine of Akatosh, Pocket Guide to the Empire, Third Edition: Foreword

#pc paganism #Skyrim #Akatosh #pop culture paganism #aedra worship #dragon magic #dragons

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wtf-taeyong · 6 years ago

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Moonlight // Mark

Word count - 3.3k Genre - angst, fluff if you use the term ‘fluff’ liberally. Warnings - None

Fantasy!au, historic!au

This is a little epilogue/slightly continuation of my previous Winwin story ‘The Stars.’ I think it’s a little necessary to read that before to understand most of this, but I think you might be able to get it if you don’t?

A yawn tore itself from Mark’s lips and he raised a clenched fist up to his eyes to rub the bleariness from them. It had begun to get chilly in his room, meaning that the sun was rising over the cave system and was getting further away from the side his room was on.

He had no idea what time it was or anything like that, but there was no urgency to get anywhere. Honestly, he knew in his chest that he’d woken up later than he ever had before but that was alright. He hadn’t had to do anything proper since his mentor had left.

Sitting up in his cot, he extended his right wing outwards, then the left, stretching them just as he would his arms up above him. He hiccuped, and groaned, swung his legs over the side and feeling around with his feet for his leather sandals.

They had been a gift, from his mentor, and his heart panged slightly at the thought that he still hadn’t returned home. He missed him, and wondered where in the world his travels had taken him.

Strapping them around his ankles, Mark reached over to his robes and pulled them over his head, securing the belt loosely around his waist and then leaving his room. He didn’t have a door - nobody his age did, but generally his people were moved deeper into the cave system with bigger rooms with doors when they met their mates and decided to settle down - which left him free to peek his head into his friends’ rooms as he walked past.

They were all vacant, as was expecting, but it was still slightly disorientating to Mark to walk to the main hall by himself. Usually, he’d be with Jaemin, or Renjun, or both, discussing excitedly what they would be spending their days doing.

Mark was slightly older than the two of them, coming of age and getting to pick his chosen path before his friends. It was a difficult, troubling decision that Mark had been dwelling over each night since he had turned sixteen. Then, when he turned eighteen, he was relatively confident with his decision.

He was going to be a writer.

That kind of vocation wasn’t as popular within his race and his people, some preferring work that took them outside into the sun, or general work around the cave system to keep the society going. Writers and scholars typically rarely ever left the caves, staying indoors and scribbling away all hours of the days by candlelight. Nevertheless, Mark was excited to start the rest of his life and was pleasantly surprised when he was assigned to Sicheng.

Sicheng was a notorious loner, going against the grain of what one might expect from their kind. His race were the most social beings on the planet, doing everything together - they had no doors for goodness sake - so the first time Mark met Sicheng on the fateful day of his eighteenth birthday, his heart nearly fell out of his chest.

“Are you smart?” Sicheng had asked, drawing himself to his full height and staring down at Mark with an expression Mark could only describe as disdain. “I-I guess so?” “You guess so?” “No, I know so.” “Good. I have no patience for idiots, or laziness. Follow me.”

Never in his life had he ever met somebody so… Rude. Mark was typically met with happiness and smiles, as many had told him his sunshine disposition was somewhat irresistible, but Sicheng was entirely immune to his charms and Mark didn’t know what to make of it.

That was his initial reaction, anyway. In the months since that moment, Mark had broken down Sicheng’s frosty outer layer and was well on his way to becoming a friend; dare he say, a close friend?

But one day, about a month before his nineteenth birthday, Sicheng had woken Mark up in the middle of the night to tell him he was leaving.

“Leaving? Leaving where?” Mark was half sitting up, balancing his weight on his left arm and rubbing his eyes with his right fist. “I don’t know. Somewhere. Anywhere.” His tone of voice was half manic, a desperate tilt to it that Mark had never heard before. “Like, away? In the outside?” “Yes. I need to… Experience what it’s like out there. For all our books and tomes and scrolls, we don’t have any practical knowledge, and I believe that’d be invaluable.” “The All-Father would never allow it, you know this-” “That’s why I’m not telling anybody.”

Mark had been startled into silence.

“An expedition like this… Think about it, Mark, think of the benefits. Think of what we could learn.” “I understand that, but it’s too risky. You know what happened to-” “Yes, yes,” Sicheng waved his hand in the air impatiently, as if batting the thought away. “I’m well versed in what happened before. But it’s different now. I have a plan.” “A plan?” “Yes. I’m going to get caught-” “-That’s madness-” “-And the human will take me directly to their stronghold.” “But at what cost?”

Sicheng was quiet, staring at Mark with a kind of thoughtfulness that Mark was much more familiar with on the elder’s face. At this point Mark had memorised all of the planes of Sicheng’s face so well, Sicheng was the only person that appeared so clearly in the younger angel’s dreams. That was why the tint of desperation, a chronic need to have someone understand and support his lust for more knowledge and understanding of the beings that triumphed over them so long ago, frightened Mark more than anything.

He didn’t know this Sicheng.

“Alright,” the younger relented. “Alright. Go.” Sicheng leapt to his feet, but Mark’s hands darted out and grasped onto one of Sicheng’s. “When will you return?” “As soon as I feel I am ready, little brother. I’ll be back.”

His hand slipped out of Mark’s, and he disappeared from the room.

Almost four months had passed, and while that wasn’t a long time of his dramatically extended life, it was wearying. Mark was pressed for answers on the elder’s whereabouts daily, and Mark was beginning to grow frustrated at the constant squints of suspicion he received.

After all, Sicheng was a prominent figure in society, despite his prickly and antisocial nature. He was a primary educator, his mere presence demanding respect and obedience from even the youngest of them, so it was a great loss the next morning when Sicheng did not appear from his quarters.

Mark was the first to be interrogated, then the rest of the scholars in the cave system, but Mark didn’t relent. If anybody knew what Sicheng had done, there would be no shortage of hunters and trackers willing to bring him home, and Mark trusted the elder enough to come back of his own volition.

He still missed him, though. Nothing was quite the same without him. Mark wasn’t the same without him, as surprising as this realisation was.

“A penny for your thoughts, little Mark?” A smooth voice interrupted his flow, and Mark blinked rapidly. He hadn’t realised he had gotten anywhere, let alone sit down, but there he was in the library, seated at one of the writing tables he had gotten intimately familiar with the past year and a bit. “My thoughts are worth much more, Doyoung,” Mark said, turning his head to face the much taller angel. “Is something wrong?” “I should be asking you. Are you thinking about Sicheng?” Doyoung leaned against the high back of the desk, and Mark swallowed heavily. “I’m usually thinking of Sicheng.” “Yes, I think we’ve noticed. Are you lovesick?” Doyoung pressed the back of his hand against Mark’s forehead, his brows pinched in mock concern, but Mark grunted and smacked the hand away.

“Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t have the time for that.” “Good. You know what we’re like.” “Yes, yes, the entire… Monogamy thing.” Doyoung’s brows creased again. “You talk like him.” “Like who?” “Sicheng, you idiot.” “I do not.” “Alright.” “I don’t!” “Yes.”

Mark fixed him with a deadpan look, and Doyoung’s mouth split into a wide grin.

“Besides, it’s actually true. I understand that you’re ever the cynic, but not a single one of us have ever been able to find another, if our only one has been lost to us.” “Maybe we’ve just never tried hard enough.” “I beg of you to not pursue that experiment.”

Mark hummed, looking down at the wooden desk. The surface was worn with years of scratching quills and general activity, wax melted across the top from the stubs of candles lodged into the grooves. Scraping some off with a fingernail, Mark heaved a heavy sigh.

“I hope that Sicheng returns soon.” “As do we all, little Mark.”

Most nights since his abrupt departure, Mark had prayed for the elder’s return. He understood incredibly well the perils of leaving the cave system and willingly venturing into human territory, having experienced the loss shared by the survivors of generations past. Never before had he even entertained the thought of leaving his home, his family, and seeing what the world had to offer for him, but for the first time, his mind wandered out of the caves and into the sky, beyond the seas and above the mountains.

Perhaps, if he kept his wits about him, Mark would prosper out there, with Sicheng. They would lead the new age of living freely, without fear of those that would brutalise them, and Mark would spend his days soaking in the sunlight and feeling the air against his skin.

His childish fantasies were cut short, however, by Sicheng’s unexpected arrival, bringing with him a commotion unlike any other.

The crowds had formed one morning, and Mark was disturbed from his slumber by a very frantic looking Jaemin. Heading upstairs together, Mark felt him before he could see him in the goosebumps that erupted over his flesh and the chill that sunk into his bones. A hush fell over the entire crowd and fear bloomed in Mark’s chest, forcing him through the throng of people, Renjun and Jaemin pushing through behind him.

Whispers and sobs erupted from around him and tears lined Mark’s eyes without him understanding what they were for. He knew that Sicheng had arrived, he could feel him, but wasn’t this a joyous occasion? Where was the singing and the dancing now that one of their own had returned? Something was horribly wrong and Mark didn’t know whether he wanted to find out what it was.

He burst from the line of people that formed a circle around Sicheng, and his eyes were seeing but his brain wasn’t registering. Bile was rising in his guts, a sickening churning feeling bringing him to his knees and all he could do was stare.

They had stolen his wings.

They had savagely, brutally cut his wings from his body and all that was left was… Nothing. Red, bloody, twisted stumps that protruded from his back in the most gruesome way Mark could ever imagine and he was crying for his brother’s loss.

Wings didn’t grow back, so Sicheng would remain tainted for the rest of his life.

“Brother,” Mark was crying, shuffling forwards on his knees. Sicheng was kneeling too, curled protectively around something that Mark didn’t care enough about to investigate, for he was too concerned about Sicheng himself. “Brother, what have they done to you?”

Sicheng didn’t say anything, his frame shuddering as he heaved a great breath, and it was as if the entire cave stopped breathing as he straightened himself up to reveal-

A girl.

Sicheng was protecting a human girl.

A dead girl, Mark realised with sickening clarity. As if this day couldn’t get much worse, suddenly all he could stare at where the ligature bruises that rounded the girl’s throat, and the awkward angle at which her head was balanced on her body.

Hanged.

Shuffling ever closer, questions exploded into Mark’s head, but he didn’t get any closer before the All-Father’s voice boomed across the expanse of the room.

The crowds parted, but Sicheng remained unmoving, eyes staring at the girl but seeing nothing.

“What is the commotion?” The All-Father asked, arriving in front of Sicheng in one sweeping moving. “Sicheng? My son, you have returned?”

His eyes took in the signs of torture from Sicheng’s back, and the girl, but he reacted only minimally, his mouth thinning slightly. A sharp contrast to Mark’s tears and heaving cries.

“I ask us all to give our son, our brother, respect and dignity. Avert your eyes, and return to your duties.” The crowds of being flooded away as if harshly stung, but Mark resisted the pull of the words in order to come slightly closer and fist his hand in Sicheng’s robes. “My son,” The All-Father said, his massively imposing form crouching down and holding his hands out to Sicheng. “Come to me.”

Like those were the words he was waiting for, Sicheng’s figure slumped over and fell into the All-Father’s arms, curling into a ball. Mark’s hands slid from Sicheng’s clothing, but Sicheng’s hands never left the girls body, bringing her with him into the All-Father’s embrace.

All Mark could think about was how impossibly small Sicheng suddenly looked.

The day passed by agonisingly slowly, the slowest Mark had ever lived through, and all he could think about was how tightly Sicheng held the girl to his chest when the All-Father brought Sicheng into his arms and carried him out of sight. Mark didn’t understand why she was here, or what she meant to Sicheng, but he knew that she must be incredibly important to be brought here after her death.

He wondered when he would be able to speak to Sicheng.

“How are you doing, Mark?” Renjun asked, his voice hushed as he moved his head closer to Mark in order to communicate quietly without risk of anybody overhearing. “Are you faring well?” “No, but I suppose Sicheng is doing significantly worse than myself.” “I don’t understand any of it,” Jaemin chimed in. “Did you see? His… Wings?” “They violated him,” Mark hissed, anger contorting his face. “They butchered him.” “They did, but anger isn’t the way forward. We must all be here for Sicheng.” Renjun reminded them, his words settling deep into Mark’s bones. “Impossible to be there for him when I have no idea where he is, but I’ll consider your idea.”

The two younger boys fell silent at Mark’s uncharacteristic harshness. Deciding it was for the best that they didn’t say anything for the rest of supper, they merely kept their heads down and let Mark stew.

He didn’t know what to think. Would Sicheng be alright? Would he be able to continue living among them? And who was that girl?

Perhaps it would have been better if Sicheng hadn’t come home.

Sicheng found him later, as Mark was lounging on a scarcely used window seat and staring up at the moon. Most of the cave system had shut down for the night, ensuring that no needless light would escape from the windows - using the term very lightly, considering they were just holes dug into the side of the mountain they lived in. They didn’t even have any glass panes, not like the pictures Mark had seen in the books informing his kind of human settlements.

So he liked picture books. He was an adult, he could like whatever he wanted, no matter what Sicheng’s raised eyebrow was telling him.

“Mark,” Sicheng said, and Mark startled slightly. Before he had left, Mark was becoming adept at feeling when the air in the room had changed slightly, signalling the arrival of his elder. Perhaps he was just out of practice; or, Sicheng was lacking a certain warmth that used to attract Mark like a moth to the distant moon he was still staring at. “I’m home.” “You are.” “I have a lot to tell you about my travels.”

His tone of voice was brittle, weak, and Mark was terrified that he was going to hear it crack. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know this Sicheng.

“I’m sure that you do,” Mark said, heaving a great sigh and hoping that Sicheng wouldn’t see the tears lining his eyes. “Maybe tomorrow?” “Mark-” “Brother, I don’t know what to do.” “What do you mean?” “I- I don’t know how to address it. What do I say to you?” “About… My wings? The All-Father said that I’m to stay with my people, no matter what wounds I carry. It was a learning experience, for myself and others.” “Brother, that’s not what I meant.”

Sicheng was silent, and Mark risked a peek at his face, finding that Sicheng’s previously soft features had melted into stone.

“There’s nothing else.” “The girl-” “There’s nothing to discuss.” “Brother, you can’t keep it all in-” “MARK!” Sicheng exploded, and a deep fear settled into Mark’s bones.

Sicheng never raised his voice.

Mark didn’t know this Sicheng.

“There’s nothing. Nothing to talk about.” Normally, Mark would submit to his elder’s wishes and obey him without question, but not today; not after what he saw. He was afraid it’d be an image that would plague his nightmares for years to come.

It was too absurd a situation for him to ignore it.

“I’m your friend,” Mark said softly, turning back to stare at the moon. “Friends’ trust each other, right?” “I- I’m not ready. Not tonight.” Sicheng was whispering, and out of Mark’s peripheral vision he could see that he was drawing in on himself, his posture weakening and his shoulders curling inwards. He’d never seen anybody more defeated. “Not now.” “Okay, brother,” Mark patted the empty spot next to him and Sicheng was slow to take it.

Mark could help but notice that his gait was slightly off, not being used to the missing weight that used to balance him. Mark couldn’t imagine what it was like, having his wings torn from him. His whole skeleton hurt at the mere thought.

“Then I won’t press it. Just know, however, that I’m always here for you, should you need me to be. I’m right by your side.”

Sicheng sighed deeply, and Mark couldn’t help but stare at him. He looked older now, but simultaneously less sure of himself, and Mark was frightened. He’d always considered Sicheng to be a guiding force during any kind of trying time, being readily available to Mark if he had any kind of difficulties, but Mark was having trouble extending the same notion to the elder. Whether Sicheng even considered Mark to be a close friend was a different story, but Mark hoped that he could offer some guidance.

“She really loved the moon.” “She did?” “Yes. She said that it made her feel so small, and yet so free.” “She sounds like a wise person.” “She is,” Sicheng said, the ghost of a smile quirking up one side of his lips before it fell heavily. Mark’s heart shattered. “She was.”

Mark didn’t know what to say that would help Sicheng regain some of who he used to be, but he supposed that whatever it was that Mark loved so much had died alongside the girl Sicheng was clutching onto. He’d just have to adjust to life with this new, quieter and much more damaged version of Sicheng.

He shuffled slightly on the stone seat, his wings fluttering behind him and Mark sighed. It was up to him now, to make Sicheng feel better. Whilst he was brimming with curiosity, he knew that it was respectful to maintain a distance from the subject, but suddenly the girl was all he could think of. Shaking his head slightly, he glanced over at the elder who still had his eyes glued to the moon far above them.

He supposed there was much to be said about the moonlight they bathed in, and how it both made Sicheng’s sorrow jump out at Mark whilst simultaneously smoothing his face of any sadness and despair.

Mark had always preferred the sun, himself.

#cheeky assassins creed quote hidden in there #mark angst #nct angst #sicheng angst #winwin angst #nct fic #mark fic #mark lee #dong sicheng #kpop angst #writing #drabble

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ltworld · 4 years ago

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Revelation, Coronavirus, and the Mark of the Beast: How Should Christians Read the Bible’s Most Fascinating Book? Part 2

Kevin DeYoung

Earlier in the week I started a three-part series on how to read the book of Revelation. We will get to the mark of the beast next week, but first, an explanation of what Revelation says about itself.

You can tell a lot about a book by its introduction. Read the first few sentences of a fairy tale, a memoir, or a logic textbook, and you will instinctively know that there are certain “rules” for interpreting these works correctly. A good introduction helps us approach the rest of the book in the right way. That’s what the introduction to Revelation does. It orients us to the type of literature we are about to encounter.

In particular, the first three verses of Revelation tell us three important things about the type of book we are reading. Revelation is an apocalypse, a prophecy, and a letter.

Apocalypse

The word “revelation” is simply the English translation of the Greek word apokalupsis found at the beginning of verse 1. The book of Revelation is about the uncovering or the unveiling of what must soon take place. To be sure, in some ways, this is a mysterious and difficult book. But we must remember, Revelation is not meant to shroud the truth but to reveal it. God means for us to understand this book.

“Apocalyptic” can sound like an intimidating word, but all we need to understand that as an apocalypse, Revelation is a book of showing. That’s what makes it so intriguing and so tricky. The book doesn’t give us precise legal codes; it gives us verbal pictures. “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him [Jesus] to show to his servants the things that must soon take place” (Rev. 1:1). It’s important to note that John doesn’t draw us a picture of what he saw or act it out in a play. He expects his visions to be read and heard. We are still dealing with text. But don’t look past the obvious: Revelation is a book of showing. The verb “to see” appears 52 times in Revelation. We are meant to “see” what we read on the pages.

We should look at the visions of Revelation as we would look at portraits in an art gallery. Revelation is not given as sequential clips from a movie, but as self-contained portraits that often show the same thing in a different way. The word most scholars use is “recapitulation.” It means that Revelation is not a chronological road map from chapters 4 to 22, but a series of visions that overlap and repeat. The seven seals are a portrait, and the seven trumpets are another portrait, but they do not necessarily follow one after the other.

Let me see if I can explain this recapitulation better by giving you some examples. Look at Revelation 11:15-18. It’s clearly a picture of final judgment for all people, the righteous and the wicked, the small and the great. Compare these verses with Revelation 20:11-15, which is clearly another picture of final judgment. It will be difficult to make sense of these sections if we think one follows chronologically after the other. We aren’t watching a movie unfold in real time; we are looking at different portraits of the same reality.

You could also look at Revelation 16:17 where the seventh angel pours out his bowl and says, “It is done!” Then in 21:6, he who sits on the throne says, “It is done!” If chapter 21 occurs temporally after chapter 16, we are left with a lot of confusion. God declares “It is done” in two different places. But if Revelation is full of recapitulation, this is not a problem.

Here is one more pair of verses: Revelation 6:12-17 and 16:18-20. In both sections we encounter the day of God’s wrath with a cataclysmic earthquake, islands fleeing, and mountains removed from their place. How can the earth crumble to pieces two times? It doesn’t. But in Revelation, we often have two different portraits of the same event.

We can’t read Revelation like every other book. Revelation is a book of symbols in motion. The graphic images and pictures (given with words) point to a deeper reality. The seven stars are angels, and the seven lampstands are seven churches (1:20). The seven heads are seven hills (17:9). The prostitute is a great city (17:18). Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints (19:8). The ancient serpent is the Devil (20:2). Unless we are prepared to look at Revelation symbolically—in pictures—we will miss the point.

Because Revelation is a showing book, full of symbols, numbers play a crucial role. John doesn’t use numbers as secret codes to crack but as signs of completeness, totality, and perfection (or the lack thereof). Three numbers are particularly important: seven, four, and twelve.

Seven is the number of completeness, especially in a spiritual sense. Thus, John writes to seven churches (real churches) as a representation of all churches. Likewise, we see seven spirits, seven judgments (in the seals, trumpets, and bowls), and seven lamps. The phrase “Lord God Almighty” occurs seven times (1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7; 19:6; 21:22), as does the phrase “the one who sits on the throne” (4:9; 5:1, 7, 13; 6:16; 7:15; 21:5) and the word “Christ” (1:1, 2, 5; 11:15; 12:10; 20:4, 6). Prophecy is mentioned seven times (1:3; 11:6; 19:10; 22:7, 10, 18, 19). Peoples, tribes, languages, and nations are mentioned seven times (5:9; 7:9; 10:11; 11:9; 13:7; 14:6; 17:15). The Spirit/Holy Spirit is mentioned seven times in relation to the seven churches and another seven times in the rest of the book (1:10; 4:2; 14:3; 17:3; 19:10; 21:10; 22:17). Jesus is used 14 times (7 x 2), and Christ is called the Lamb twenty-eight times (7 x 4).

The number four points to universality or worldwide scope. That’s why we read of four living creatures, four horsemen, the four corners of the earth, the four winds, and the four-fold phrase “people, tribe, language, and nation.” Similarly, the phrase “the one who lives forever” appears four times (4:9, 10; 10:6; 15:7) as does “seven spirits” (1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6) and references to lightning, sounds, and thunder from the throne (4:5; 8:5; 11:19; 16:18).

The number 12 and its multiples indicate the fullness of God’s people. Hence, we have 12 tribes and 12 apostles. We read of 24 (12 x 2) thrones and 24 elders. We see God’s people symbolically depicted as 144,000 (12 x 12 x 1000). And in the depiction of the New Jerusalem where God’s people dwell for all eternity, the number 12 occurs 12 times.

You get the picture (pun intended). Revelation, as an apocalypse, is a book of symbols and a book of showing.

Prophecy

Revelation is also a prophecy (1:3; 22:7), and as such, it’s rooted in Old Testament imagery. We will misread Revelation if we try to find referents from our day instead of first of all seeing allusions from the Old Testament. Think of all the Old Testament imagery that Revelation borrows: the tree of life, the ancient serpent, the plagues, the Song of Moses, Jezebel, Babylon, the temple, Jerusalem, the 12 tribes of Israel, priests, incense, Balaam, the water of life, the winepress of God’s wrath, and on and on and on. Even though Revelation is about the future, it, more than any other book in the New Testament, only makes sense when seen through the eyes of the past. A list of Old Testament allusions and parallels in Revelation would fill several pages, with around 500 references.

Moreover, Revelation is not just steeped in Old Testament imagery, it is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Think, for example, of the connection between Revelation and the book of Daniel. In Daniel 2 Daniel interprets a dream for King Nebuchadnezzar. In his dream Nebuchadnezzar sees a large statue made of gold, silver, iron, and clay. The statue is broken to pieces by a rock that then becomes a huge mountain that fills the whole earth. The four metals are four kingdoms, and the rock is a final kingdom set up by God that will destroy all the other kingdoms and never be destroyed. In Daniel 2:28 Daniel says, “God has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come.” And in verse 29 he says, “The revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen.” This language is similar, and identical in parts, to the language used in Revelation 1:1, except this time John speaks of a revelation that God gave to show what must soon take place. The phrase “what must soon take place” is used four times in Revelation, and the connection with Daniel is deliberate. What Daniel interpreted as going to happen in latter days is now close and even at hand. The appointed time when God would set up his divine everlasting kingdom—that rock that destroyed the statue of gold, silver, iron, and clay—has arrived.

Let me highlight one more connection, this time between the end of Daniel and the end of Revelation. In Daniel 12:4 Daniel is told, “But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end.” In Revelation 22:10 John is told, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near.” You can hear the similar language. But, whereas Daniel was told to seal it up until the end, John was told to keep it open, because the time is near. What Daniel saw was coming to culmination in John’s day. What had been far off was now near at hand.

This means we are in the end times/last days and have been for years (cf. Acts 2:17; 1 Tim. 4:1). This doesn’t mean the end of the world is tomorrow. The “end times” or the “last days” is the designation for the time following the triumph of Jesus Christ on the cross. A new day has dawned in salvation history. That’s the point of the connections between Daniel and Revelation. The divine kingdom that would destroy all other kingdoms has already come—it is at hand. But it is not yet fully established. The prophecy of Daniel and the whole Old Testament, really, has come to its zenith in Revelation. The triumph of the Son of Man, the coming of the divine kingdom, and the salvation of the righteous, and the judgment of the wicked have already occurred, and they are not yet completed. In other words, the time that John saw as soon to appear has not been fully realized, but it has been inaugurated.

If all this sounds confusing, it’s because most of us don’t understand how multi-layered biblical prophecy is. Most prophecy in the Bible works by speaking to the immediate context and spinning out into the future. Most prophecy has an already and not-yet fulfillment.

For example, Isaiah 40:3-5 says, “A voice of one calling: In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it.” What is Isaiah talking about? Well, he’s talking about the return from exile in Babylon, but he’s also thinking of a deliverance more complete. Therefore, when the Gospels see in John the Baptist the fulfillment of Isaiah 40, they aren’t making things up. They are seeing the fulfillment of God’s ultimate salvation. The New Testament writers understood—as the Old Testament prophets did—that prophecy usually has a near-term and long-term fulfillment.

It’s as if a prophet came to America after 9-11 and said, “Hear, O my people, in America. Your days of fear will soon be over. I will topple Hussein. Bin Laden will I find out. Baghdad will be a haunt of jackals and Al-Qaeda a wasteland. No more will terror strike your land. Mothers will no longer weep. Children will not be fatherless. I will deliver you from all your sorrows. Death shall be destroyed, and your punishment ended. I will be among you always. I am the Lord your God, and there is no other.” Obviously, that’s not a real prophecy. But since it deals with familiar people and places, we can more easily hear near-term and long-term fulfillment. My made-up prophecy speaks hope into the immediate context, but the language is also so exalted and otherworldly as to point us to a later, fuller fulfillment. That’s how prophecy worked in the Old Testament and how it is fulfilled in Revelation.

Letter

Revelation is an apocalypse, a prophecy, and a letter. It is a letter written by John and sent to seven real churches. Some of the churches were under attack: spiritually, physically, and materially. And some of the churches were knee-deep in compromise and worldliness. The message that this letter conveyed was, above almost all else, an exhortation to overcome. “Don’t give up. Don’t give in. Jesus has won the victory. Live like him. Die like him. But do not succumb to the devil and the world.”

Revelation was probably a circular letter meant to be read at one church and then sent on to the next. Revelation would be read in a worship service, probably in one sitting. Much of the congregation would have been illiterate. They couldn’t have studied the letter even if they had a copy, so the church would listen as the reader read.

You might think, But how could they possibly understand a book like this? They didn’t have commentaries, or concordances, or Bible software, or inductive training methods, or even a Bible to follow along in! But they did have several advantages we don’t have.

First, they didn’t have TVs, movies, and the internet, so they were probably just plain better at learning with their ears.

Second, they probably knew the Old Testament better than we do.

Third, they didn’t need a translation. Fourth, they lived in the world and culture in which the letter was written. That’s a huge advantage. No matter how brilliant and diligent our study, we will never be able to know the world of first-century Asia Minor as well as the people who lived in it. I’m sure there were all sorts of idioms, symbolisms, and referents that we struggle to uncover that they would have known instantly. We have to read big fat books to figure these things out, but things would have been much clearer had you been sitting in the First Church of Smyrna. This isn’t to make us despair of understanding Revelation. With a good knowledge of the Old Testament and some historical knowledge, we can understand this book. After all, God gave it to us to show his servants what must soon take place. The point I am trying to reinforce is that we must not forget Revelation was a real letter to real people. It was written for a first-century audience. Now, it still has significance for us, but it was first of all written to seven churches in Asia Minor who lived in the first century, understood Greek, and were threatened by persecution and tempted to compromise. While it’s quite possible for Revelation to signify more than first-century Christians could fully understand, it must never mean less. As a letter, our interpretations of Revelation must be constrained by John’s authorial intent and the original audience’s ability to make sense of what was written.

Note: This post was first published through The Gospel Coalition website.

#deyoung #revelation

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haresvoid · 1 year ago

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“&– - Your caution in the face of a daedra is understandable, but I serve neither the Great Eye nor any Prince. I have found more.... satisfaction upon the study of Nirn and the mortals that live upon it than within the expanses of oblivion. I seek neither to cause harm nor sway you to become soul bound to any entity.”

#THE SCHOLAR. ic #THE SCHOLAR. the elder scrolls verse #( hi drops seeker ome on the dash <3 #i need to shake off my rust with daedra lore but love my freaky bby )

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bloodandwinemuses · 8 years ago

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FANTASY (MAIN & SUMMARY):

A father and confidant once, Nolan wanted nothing more than normalcy. A nice job, a loving wife, a living child. Magic and beings of supernatural origins fascinated him on a theoretical level only. After all, he was the son of two determined researchers set out to discover new creatures thought extinct. Many believed them to be fanatics, readily sucking in myths and tales with no realistic roots to speak of. And truthfully, Nolan conceded, too. Until there were two losses: his son and parents. As life would have it, he had none of what he wanted. Afterwards, there was an ending: an amicable divorce. No ire, no nothing. The goal, then, was to regain something. His parent’s wish, slightly bent to a much more efficacious, long lasting result. The bestiary which they had almost religiously studied for so many decades was severely outdated. Possibly, one might ponder, the lack of knowledge had shoved death a little too close to Nolan’s parents. That, at last, became his one ambition, the voyage he would dedicate his life to. Nowadays, Nolan’s a wanderer, a rover traveling from town to town, country to country so long as his finances allow for it.

In summary, Nolan is always on the lookout for mutually beneficial relationships. Anyone willing to acquire rare scripts, rolls, or even potions ingredients work rather well as far as interactions go — especially other, non-human creatures. Like in his witcher verse, Nolan isn’t opposed to taking care of monster-related problems for his contacts, albeit Nolan will agree to do so reluctantly and never on the spot. Unlike witchers, he has neither undergone mutations, nor is he able to utilize simple yet effective combat magic. As such, he is heavily dependent on outside sources and relationships in business related matters.

PIRATE VERSE :

The product of generations of seasoned seamen in the merchant service, all Nolan had ever known in the same manner pious, virtuous men sought solace in prayer, was the sea. His boyhood, therefore, was spread out over years on board. The seaport in Bristol was his home, his childhood landscape - and the women left behind soon forgotten, for they would not live long. In a moment’s notice, it was just the two of them, father and son, sailing for their trade. In cloth and tobacco, they found their earnings - until even their skills as navigators and traders alike couldn’t prevent the capture of their ship by pirates. She was armed with forty-six guns and the crew relatively overwhelming at seventy men. To them, they were booty.

When Nolan’s father defied and refused to hand over their cargo,the captain, a tall, sunburnt personage with a wolfish, devious smile yet deceivingly dissolute appearance cut his throat - Nolan right at his side. His son, however, would demurely take the offer and voluntarily joined the crew. Quickly, it would seem, Nathaniel Flynn, his now alias, though referred to only as Nate, rose up in the ranks, popular amongst his fellow men. Though not necessarily a man of letters and not blessed with a liberal education, Nolan was a quick learner, articulate, and most importantly skilled as a navigator. Up he rose, claiming the title of quartermaster merely two years after he had joined the captain who had murdered his father in cold blood. Henceforth, those years were a ploy, till he, too, seized an opportunity to remove an unpopular captain to become captain himself. His predecessor, alas, had continually failed, neglected his promises to the crew, thereby keeping their purses, bellies empty whereas, on a calculated whim, Nolan had ensured just that months prior.

Why, however, did he take to piracy? Why did a man who was going to be a father take upon a career that would likely end with a noose around his neck? The answer, as ever, was simple. It was easy to provide, and it was swift. His trade and resources as a merchant, meanwhile, had slowly begun to dwindle - no chance to provide for his soon to be family. At sea, there was a side of his carefully kept under wraps on land, the side heavily armed, uncouth, and depicting the same cruelty with which his father had been killed - a reality no man, no father should ever let to the surface. Nolan, too, was lured by plunder and an easy life; a life that kept him grounded in fast-paced admiration by crew as well as his involvement with wealthy landowners who were to benefit from his exploits. And if he could amass gold within his numbered lifetime for his family, then Nolan would willingly await the trial just around the next bend. Should harm befall his wife and son, he knew his trusted friend, aristocrat, a man of letters, a personage of liberal education and good nature, would protect them in his name.

WITCHER (FANTASY/GAME-BASED/TINY BIT BOOK-BASED

[only The Last Wish & currently reading Time of Contempt]

After a whole pack of creatures had ravaged the village Nolan had always called home and slaughtered his parents, only he managed to survive. Barely, as one might add, for two wayward witchers saved him from suffering the same fate in the nick of time. With no parents or home left, the boy begged to go wherever the path would lead them. Albeit reluctantly, they agreed. Once in Nilfgaard, he underwent extensive training early on, instructed by firm and relentless teachers. Having survived the rituals of the school of the viper, as was their wont, Nolan readily and quickly honed his skills. Bound to instructors and old witchers in a winding string of gratitude and solidarity, Nolan was soon exposed to ruthless mental conditioning as well. Barely a man, he nonetheless did not wield, eager to achieve. Every time Nolan showed a most curious resilience that was futher honed during his training, and tested again and again when subjected to alchemical procedures and instructed to consume mutagenic compounds. Despite the low survival rate of witchers, he survived.

Nolan proved a survivalist years later when the school was disbanded after an incident that remains in the shadows of history, brothers and teachers now scattered all across.

A life on the path, years spent accustomed to hostile whispers and accusative whispers about his fellow brothers, Nolan traveled from city to city, accepting contract after contract. Once a moralistic, good young fellow, he wouldn’t quarrel about the coin too much. Until his amicable nature in spite of a witcher’s infamy nearly had him killed. Wounded after a fight with a royal griffin who had plagued the farmers, he dared demand a little more for his efforts than what they had agreed upon. It was a royal griffin, after all, and as such warranted more coin.

His next memory remained foggy until this day, for he only remembered the blue eyes of a slender woman and the black tufts of hair of a boy. Her name was Dana, though she would scarcely ever reveal more in her lifetime. She had found him bleeding out on a haystack behind the barns, and taken him in at her boy’s pleas.

Before long, Dana had changed his course, taken him away from a life on the path and given him a home and a family. But there was unrest in her veins, for she longed to update her bestiary and scrolls of rare herbs. A dangerous trajectory, surely, and yet Nolan offered to go with her. Love, as poets said, led to great folly.

The land was slick with blood and strife, for the years of the witch hunt were in full bloom and were just reaching its peak when the pair fell in the arms of witch hunters on horseback. These witch hunters would be Dana’s death sentence. They beheaded her with a sword, zoned in on her like some beast. They claimed her son, too.

Nolan did not sheathe his steel sword until every last of them had fallen.

Nowadays, one might encounter the scholar witcher in a tavern engrossed by some light reading. A researcher he had become, with only the occasional contract to complete should the financial need arise (and said need arose plenty) for he had his eyes on realizing her goal.

DRAGON AGE

[All games but games only]

The house of Trevelyan has carried ample weight for centuries reaching back as far as […]. Somewhere set in […] it was their rich ancestry which has ensured and strengthened their noble line for many years to come. Every member, even their youngest, are raised to memorize their history by heart, for it is pledge and proof simultaneously to commoners whispering too boldly behind their backs – the gossiping crowd predominantly being rivaling novelty.

Most praised for their summer balls, political prowess, and piety while feared for their strong connections to the chantry and the Templar order alike, only few have dared denounce a family whose whispers can reach even king Markus’s ears in times of crisis.

Much to their discreetly voiced displeasure upon their rank within Ostwick, a Trevelyan elder has always been instilled with an unquenchable demand for improved status among nobility. This house, for all its blood-stained history and might, has never turned down an alliance to advance their goals. A promise kept, however, is likely never going to become a sacred motto upon which their cold crest yet lingers.

Having grown up around opportunistic minds and prayer seeking hearts, Nolan knew from the very beginning none of his siblings were going to live through their boyhoods peacefully. Once taken from their weak grasps, each was carried off to different courts in Thedas, instructed from an early age to form connections beyond their distinguished ties. From advantageous marriages to courtships, his older siblings haven’t sullied their name; but contributed to Trevelyan infamy instead.

Nolan, though of noble blood, struggled to please insatiable parents whose roots have always inevitably, irrevocably been shielded by flame. In awe of the Maker, the tiniest blasphemous bluster from his lips was punished harshly – oftentimes with less philanthropic methods.

Unlike his siblings, Nolan lacked inherent grace for diplomacy, finding his political mind to be wanting also. At court, he would disgrace them in barely a month’s while and so they invoked their secondary plan, a trajectory laid out for a child whose tactless mouth would never cease to wreak havoc upon them all. In spite of his temper, he was to become a Templar. And truly, his parents sent him off wearing relieved smiles on tired features. Henceforth, the boy should be their nuisance.

Life at the circle

His adolescent years from then onwards never belonged to him. The Templar order is a bastion of order and tradition under which Nolan had never imagined to prevail. Reciting the chant of light while candles were burning down to their last flicker had his focus wavering to and fro ancient rolls in the mage’s library — documents Templar eyes weren’t meant to see. And yet, throughout his training figures of authority instilled in him principles, all of which Nolan devoured like fine wine as if he had never tasted so great an honor as to belong to something. Eager to become a model student, the lad had swiftly charmed teachers and older Templars alike; they were shepherds to him heralding fate and structure in a world gone mad; they had become a family looking out for impressionable youths so as to guide them towards their full potential.

When first he was stationed to serve at the circle of Ostwick after his training had been completed, Nolan felt humbled by his new sense of purpose. Known for its sedate policies, the mages were largely content to live and let live. Surely, a handful of them would extend to him reproachful glances over their shoulders, venomous smiles; a message to signal they knew where armored shadows loomed day and night.

During those years leading up to the conclave, Nolan found a friend in the unlikeliest specimen: a mage, and not a loyalist as it would soon turn out. One night while he was wandering the corridors, plagued by midnight terrors, he spotted a figure sifting about in the library by dim haloes of candle light. A male mage barely a few heads shorter than he, cradling a book in pale hands — another stigma born out of their confinement. He knew. Approaching him silently, his hands moved away from his sheathed sword to indicate no harm was to befall the lad if no spell would be cast on him. The mage, at last, glimpsed past book corners and stared, blankly, at the towering figure nearby. A gruff voice, then, bounced off silent walls, inquiring if he knew jack shite about herbalism. Nolan, feeling sheepish, shook his head no.

By the name of Ewan, a Templar had therewith found a mage teacher.

The Conclave

At Divine Justinia’s behest, all mages and Templars were to attend the conclave. Indeed, scarcely a soul failed to heed her call for peace between these more than estranged fractions. Ostwick, however, was one of the last to join fellow circles on their travels. Their soil stayed spotless; but this was not so for long. In secret those rebels had been gathering for months, slipping past Templar scrutiny aided by blood magic and advanced illusion spells to send them into slumbers. The cry for freedom, for independence had tempted their blood to boil, having molded obedience into all-encompassing rebellions. No more, so it would seem, was their motto, their creed which they clung to like mothers to their babes. In the end, many a loyalist mage lost their life in the months leading up to Justinia’s bid until, alas, Ostwick’s floors had also been bloodied and stained, the taint of murder having sunken into castle walls. A senior enchanter, likewise, was strangled by one of her lambs through magical abilities she had thought to novices.

Still having strong ties to the chantry, Nolan was the first candidate called upon to take the voyage to attend the conclave in company of a senior Templar as custom imposed. Only the night prior, a mage who had long since earned the title friend stepped into his room and pleaded to him, pleaded for flight in lieu of duty. As if on impulse, Nolan refused without kindness and gestured to the door as though they had never spoken as brothers did.

Ewan’s plea along with his panic had swayed him, though, conspiring him to choose a friend offering him freedom and identity over a family in gilded cages. For all his fond memories, for all those praise hymns earned, it had been his parents who had forced a child to become a servant of fate — not because they believed in their son, but because they feared still his deficiencies might ruin their legacy. Ewan, meanwhile, was a true friend, a shelter of sorts, a mirror reflecting flaws, a chance for growth, for life.

He took it, that night, took it and turned his back.

He hasn’t looked back since.

Nowadays (After/during DA:I)

Appearances can be deceiving as even a peasant should know. If ever one spots a merchant caravan traveling throughout city, a towering figure standing next to a bloke rumored to be an assassin, the general consensus is, indeed, to avert one’s gaze and to lose any memory of their presence altogether. For where these two roam, trouble is afoot. Their names aren’t known, nor their outlawed status in Antiva in most of Thedas.

And yet still, their reputation bears not only the fruit of fear, but of efficacious infamy also. Fast lyrium smugglers, they claim to be, and have proven aplenty. Albeit not the only item these two willingly smuggle for coins, it’s their specialty. In scarcely a few years’ time, they have amassed a frightful list of contacts all across the lands, and know just whom to contact in the underworld to double their pay. The giant, as he is called, often offers his sword, whether to slay beasts or men. The scarred one, meanwhile, is content to tend to wounds inflicted by the war. Hiding, more frequently than he would like, his magical aptitude.

As rumors would have it, they are lawless bandits without honor. This is not so if one fancies to follow their steps for longer than just noon. The scarred one and the giant alike have been seen twice and thrice feeding orphans or sneaking inside alienages to heal those too poor to afford proper care.

Bandits, they are. And yet also healers, herbalists, smiths, smugglers and brothers fighting to maintain their freedom.

Note: this verse can be adapted to fit into the events of DA:I so that these two could be active members or agents of the Inquisition depending on whether or not your Inquisitor believes their talents could be utilized.

Verses under construction:

Tattoo shop verse (Normal)

Crime Verse

AUs:

Bounty Hunter verse with @secondhandmckie

Literally whatever else you peeps are up for.

#verse overview;Nolan #verses

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dailybiblelessons · 6 years ago

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Lessons for September 13 to 19 (Ordinary 24)

What's ahead in the Bible readings for this week September 13 to 20, 2018 The Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time The Seventeenth Week After Pentecost

This week's image

In the Sunday Gospel lesson, Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ. When Jesus begins to tell his disciples of the suffering that he will endure, Peter began to rebuke him. Then Jesus said “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” I take this passage as a reminder that God uses even flawed people like Peter to do great things.

Gospel and Epistle Lessons

Several of our lessons relate to speech. The Sunday Epistle lesson reminds us that the tongue, though a small part of our body, is like a small rudder controlling a large ship. The Saturday Gospel reading includes the parable of the two sons, in which their speech and their actions diverge. There is more on speech in the complementary Hebrew scriptures.

We are again reminded that “faith, by itself, if it has no works, is dead.… Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith” (from the Friday Epistle reading). The actions of Rahab and Abraham's offering up Isaac are specifically mentioned. The Thursday Epistle lesson mentions five different examples of the faith of the patriarchs as told in Genesis.

In the Sunday passage from James, sets on fire the cycle of nature wasn't clear to me on first reading. Here is what I found in Clark's Commentary on James 3:6

Setteth on fire the course of nature [Greek here] And setteth on fire the wheel of life. I question much whether this verse be in general well understood. There are three different interpretations of it: St. James does not intend to express the whole circle of human affairs, so much affected by the tongue of man; but rather the penal wheel of the Greeks, and not unknown to the Jews, on which they were accustomed to extend criminals, to induce them to confess, or to punish them for crimes; under which wheels, fire was often placed to add to their torments. . . . But is it not possible that by the wheel of life St. James may have the circulation of the blood in view? Angry or irritating language has an astonishing influence on the circulation of the blood: the heart beats high and frequent; the blood is hurried through the arteries to the veins, through the veins to the heart, and through the heart to the arteries again, and so on; an extraordinary degree of heat is at the same time engendered; the eyes become more prominent in their sockets; the capillary vessels suffused with blood; the face flushed; and, in short, the whole wheel of nature is set on fire of hell.… It is true, however, that the rabbins use the term [Hebrew here] gilgal toledoth, "the wheel of generations," to mark the successive generations of men: and it is possible that St. James might refer to this; as if he had said: "The tongue has been the instrument of confusion and misery through all the ages of the world." But the other interpretations are more likely.

This excerpt is from www.godvine.com/bible/james/3-6.

Complementary Series Hebrew Scriptures

There is a theme around speech in our readings this week. The Psalm of preparation begins “I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my supplications.” The Psalm of response begins “Let my cry come before you, O Lord, give me understanding according to your word.” The Sunday Hebrew Scripture is the third Servant Song for Isaiah, which begins “The Lord God gave me the tongue of a teacher, that I might know how to sustain the weary with a word.”

Our Hebrew Scriptures during the days of preparation concern Rahab, the prostitute who protected the spies Joshua sent to Jericho. On Thursday she hides them among bundles of flax on her roof. On Friday, they escape by lowering themselves from a window in Rahab's dwelling, which was on the outside of the city wall. On Saturday Joshua gives instructions that she and her family (and no one else) should be saved.

The Monday and Tuesday passages from 1 Kings concern disobedience to God. The Monday passage is about King Jeroboam, who was the first king of the northern kingdom after Israel and Judah became separate nations. He instituted religious changes designed to keep the people away from the Jerusalem temple and its priests, who were loyal to Judah. Clearly God did not approve. The Tuesday passage concerns the same unnamed prophet who was sent to Jeroboam. This unnamed prophet is also disobedient to God, and so is also punished.

The Wednesday Hebrew Scripture lesson becomes much clearer when you know that Isaiah is quoting a dialog between Assyria (which is given in quotation marks) and the Lord, whose response is not in quotation marks.

Semi-continuous Series Hebrew Scriptures

We continue reading from Proverbs. Proverbs, according to The Oxford Dictionary of the Bible are short, sometimes witty comments on human life and manners, deriding fools (Proverbs 1:7) or noting consequences (Jeremiah 31:29) or the absurd (Amos 6:12). The Hebrew word can also mean a ‘taunt song’ (Isaiah 14:4).

Here is some additional background, based on the introduction to Proverbs in The New Interpreter's Bible. One difficulty in understanding this book is our Western separation of nature and culture. In the ancient Near East, cosmologies are presupposed. They may be explicit (as in Chapter 1 to 9 of Proverbs) or explicit (as in chapters 10 to 29). Some see in Lady Wisdom evidence of an Israelite goddess whose existence was supressed by the monotheistic editors of the book. Scholars are divided on this question. You can look at the evidence and decide for yourself.

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Links for the week ahead

Thursday to Sunday Psalms Complementary Psalm 116:1-9 Thanksgiving for God's answer to prayers. Semi-continuous Psalm 19 The law of the Lord is perfect.

Thursday: Preparation for the Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Complementary Joshua 2:1-14b Rahab, a prostitute, shelters Joshua's spies. Semi-continuous Proverbs 15:1-17 The tongue of the wise dispenses knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly. Both Hebrews 11:17-22 The faith of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph

Friday: Preparation for the Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Complementary Joshua 2:15-24 Joshua's spies promise to save Rahab and her family. Semi-continuous Proverbs 19:24-29 Strike a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence; rebuke the intelligent and they will gain knowledge. Both James 2:17-26 Can a person who has faith but does nothing to help others be saved?

Saturday: Preparation for the Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Complementary Joshua 6:22-27 Rahab and her family are spared, but the Israelites destroy everything else except what is brought to the treasury of the house of the Lord. Semi-continuous Proverbs 21:1-17 If you close your ear to the poor, you will cry out and not be heard. Both Matthew 21:23-32 Jesus says to the chief priests and the elders "Even the prostitutes and the tax collectors believed John, but you did not."

The Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Complementary Isaiah 50:4-9a God helps me, therefore I will not be disgraced. Semi-continuous Proverbs 1:20-33 Wisdom rebukes the foolish, who will not listen to her. Alternate Semi-continuous Canticle: Wisdom 7:26-8:1 God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom. Both James 3:1-12 Watch what you say. Both Mark 8:27-38 Jesus asked the disciples, "Who do you say that I am." Peter answered, "You are the Messiah."

Monday to Wednesday Psalms. Complementary Psalm 119:169-176 Let my cry come before you, and give me understanding according to your word. Semi-continuous Psalm 73:21-28 God is my strength and my portion forever.

Monday: Reflection on the Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Complementary 1 Kings 13:1-10 A man of God confronts King Jeroboam. Semi-continuous Proverbs 22:1-21 The eyes of God keep watch over knowledge, but God overthrows the words of the faithless. Both Romans 3:9-20 None are righteous. With their tongues they have deceived and their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.

Tuesday: Reflection on the Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Complementary 1 Kings 13:11-25 The prophet disobeys God and is killed by a lion. Semi-continuous Proverbs 25:1-28 A word well spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. Both Colossians 3:1-11 You are renewed in Christ, so there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!

Wednesday: Reflection on the Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Complementary Isaiah 10:12-20 Arrogant Assyria is judged. Semi-continuous Proverbs 29 A fool gives full vent to anger, but the wise quietly holds back. Both John 7:25-36 Many in the crowd believed that Jesus is the Messiah.

*Denominations have different ways of designating the weeks during the year, so your church may refer to this week by a different name. Regardless of the name, the readings are the same. Here is an explanation: Calendar Explanation

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#B Ordinary 24 What's Ahead

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romancatholicreflections · 7 years ago

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11th February >> Sunday Homilies and Reflections For Roman Catholics on the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B Sixth Sunday in Ordinary time - Year B Sixth Sunday in Ordinary time, Year B. Gospel reading: Mark 1:40-45 jesus leper 19vs.40 A leper came to Jesus and pleaded on his knees: “If you want to” he said “you can cure me.” vs.41 Feeling sorry for him, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. “Of course I want to!” he said. “Be cured!” vs.42 And the leprosy left him at once and he was cured. vs.43 Jesus immediately sent him away and sternly ordered him, vs.44 “Mind you say nothing to anyone, but go and show yourself to the priest, and make the offering for your healing prescribed by Moses as evidence of your recovery.” vs.45 The man went away, but then started talking about it freely and telling the story everywhere, so that Jesus could no longer go openly into any town, but had to stay outside in places where nobody lived. Even so, people from all around would come to him. ******************************************************************* We have four commentators available from whom you may wish to choose . Scroll down to the name of the commentator. Michel DeVerteuil : A Trinidadian Holy Ghost Father, late director of the Centre of Biblical renewal . Thomas O’Loughlin: Professor of Historical Theology, University of Wales, Lampeter. Sean Goan: Studied scripture in Rome, Jerusalem and Chicago and teaches at Blackrock College and works with Le Chéile Donal Neary SJ: Editor of The Sacred Heart Messenger and National Director of The Apostlship of Prayer. **************************************** Michel DeVerteuil Lectio Divina with the Sunday Gospels www.columba.ie General Comments Today’s passage is in three sections: – verses 40-41: Jesus heals a leper; – verses 42-45a: Jesus protects his identity; – verse 45b: the people still come to him. As with last week’s passage, we are free to focus on one section alone or to see the three sections as a unit, one moving into the other. 1. The healing of lepers is a feature of Jesus’ ministry – appropriately, since leprosy is a powerful symbol of the alienation which he came to free humanity from. In meditating on this passage, we are free to identify the particular form of leprosy we have experienced. We will then become freer to decide for ourselves who we want to identify with: – the leper, the one who has been healed from uncleanness; – Jesus, the one who brings the marginalized into the community. The story is told imaginatively and every detail can touch us: – the helplessness of the leper, “pleading on his knees”; – the pathetic “if you want to” – the leper dares not put too much hope even in the one he knows can cure him; – the immediate healing once he is touched. Jesus and our painThen there is the greatness of Jesus – entering into the pain of the man (“feeling sorry for him,” as the Jerusalem bible translation has it, does not convey the compassion for the man that Jesus feels in his heart); – Jesus “stretching out” his hand, indicating that he must reach far out from where he is at present in order to meet the leper where he is; – once the man has been touched the healing is immediate. 2. This section introduces the theme of what scholars have termed “the messianic secret” – Jesus’ vain attempt to conceal his identity until the time is ripe. This messianic secret is related in all three synoptic gospels, but it is stressed most strongly in St Mark. Scholars have done extensive research to determine what was Jesus’ motive for insisting on the messianic secret. In lectio divina however, our approach is to start from our human experience. We ask ourselves questions like: – what in our experience corresponds to the messianic secret? – what does our experience teach us about why Jesus insisted on the messianic secret? – how does the concept of the messianic secret help us to understand ourselves and the way we must live out our vocation in the world? This approach from experience reveals that all of us human beings have to work out for ourselves what is our God-given mission in the world, what we have to offer others that no one can do in our name. Like Jesus, we will find that we must struggle to preserve our “messianic secret.” We do not allow others to define our mission to them. secret Our passage, if taken as a unit, brings out that those whom we have helped and who admire us are among the “others” we must resist. Our success with them can be an obstacle to our remaining faithful to our personal vision. They remind us that we have touched them but we learn from gospel passages like this one that it was a painful struggle for Jesus, as it is for us. 3. Leaders who speak from their inner truth are very precious. Nowadays many leaders are content to make conventional statements – “this is what I am about”. What St Mark says of Jesus will be true of all those to whom we relate – we may be unpopular to them; it will seem very hard for them to reach us. These things don’t matter however – “even so, people from all around will come to us.” This must also be what attracts people to the Church. It is not our business to make ourselves attractive. All the Church’s efforts must be devoted to being true to its vision. Often in history, the Church has gone along with the values of the world. There were times when we accepted slavery, supported the imperialist ideology of the colonial powers, allowed ourselves to be protected by the armies of states. We thank God that in many parts of the world, in recent centuries, the Church has learned to keep its distance from these popular sayings – like Jesus we must learn to “stay outside where nobody lives.” Prayer Reflection “People are made people through other people.” … African proverb Lord, we remember a time when we felt unclean: – we were ashamed of our sexuality; – we did something which made us want to hide ourselves; – we let down our fellow workers or our team; – we deceived someone who trusted us; – we betrayed the ideals of a social movement we belonged to. Like the lepers in Jesus’ day, – we felt isolated, unclean, with no sense of self-worth; – we didn’t want to mix with friends or family. beggin prayerThen one day we felt able to come to someone who we felt could bring us healing: one of our parents, a friend or neighbour, a priest or other member of our church community. We remember how we felt at that moment, pleading on our knees, not literally perhaps, but our body language showed how nervous and insecure we were – like the leper – hopeful and yet so unsure of ourselves that even though we trusted the person, something within us still whispered, “If you want to…” We thank you for the compassion of that Jesus person, laughing off our doubts and saying, “Of course I want to!” stretching out a hand across the wide expanse which separated us, so that we felt touched and held. There was no more to say then, the warmth in that touch said, “Be cured!” and at once we were cured of our feelings of uncleanness, and we felt able to show ourselves to the community. warLord, we think today of societies torn apart by ancient feuds, so that the different communities look on each other as lepers: – dissenters and those who accept the status quo in the United States and other prosperous countries -Israelis and Arabs in the Holy Land – Tamils and Sinhalese in Sri Lanka – Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland – warring factions in the Republic of the Congo. We thank you for sending them people like Jesus who recognise in those of the opposing side human beings who beneath their hostility are really pleading to be accepted and to belong to the wider community. Like Jesus with the leper, they assure these others that they want to work together with them, they are anxious to stretch out their hands across the centuries of violence and deeply entrenched barriers. They touch them, and it seems that in an instant resentment, suspicion, inability to forgive and to trust are overcome. “To have convincing authority we must share the journeys of people, enter their fears, be touched by their disappointments, their questions, their failures, their doubts.“ …Timothy Radcliffe, former Master General of the Dominicans Lord, as a Church in the various communities that make up our state, we want to care for those who are neglected by the majority – those who are divorced and remarried; – members of the gay community; – those who belong to a lower class than ourselves; – members of a different culture or sub-culture. Forgive us that we want to care for them while standing aloof and feeling superior, so that we become angry when people are suspicious of us and wonder whether we really want to cure them. We pray that our Church may have Jesus’ generosity of spirit which will allow us to understand how leprosy breeds suspicion, so that we will brush away their doubts and stretch our hands as far as we need to, until we can touch their pain and they will feel part of our community. Jesus nailedLord, it is a long and painful struggle to remain true to ourselves, and we thank you that your Son Jesus underwent that struggle with us. On the cross he remained faithful while the chief priests and elders taunted him, at other times too, he had to keep his distance from those who admired him, talked freely about his great deeds and told his story everywhere. We pray that we may be stern like him in being faithful to our personal goals, like him refuse to go openly into any town and spend long periods in places where nobody lives. Even so, people from all around will come to us, and we will then be able to relate with them from the truth of ourselves. “When you become important, it is easy to fall from a true prophet into a false one.” …Jean Vanier Lord, forgive us, your Church, for the times when we have allowed ourselves to be defined by those whom we have helped: – the graduates of our schools; – those who have been cured at our hospitals; – the conquistadors and colonial governors with whom we collaborated. Forgive us that we felt proud when they started talking about us freely and telling the story everywhere. We thank you that in many countries of the world, your Church took the decision to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and reach out to those whom society treats as lepers, even though this meant becoming isolated, no longer going openly into any town, staying outside where nobody lived. A strange thing happened – even so, people from all around kept coming to her! ******************************************************** Thomas O’Loughlin Liturgical Resources for the Year of Matthew www.columba.ie Introduction to the Celebration Jesus light of worldWe live in a world of suffering: suffering caused by diseases, suffering caused by the exclusion of people, suffering caused by greed and jealousy. But rather than just say that is ‘the lot of humanity’ we look towards Jesus as the one who brings healing, who welcomes people into his embrace, and who proclaims a new way of living. To belong to this community is to recognise the mystery of God’s forgiveness and healing made visible to us in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Homily Notes 1. There is always a strange tension when we gather as God’s people. On the one hand, we become conscious of our unity in the Christ: people who are sisters and brothers in baptism. The way we speak at the liturgy reminds us of this. On the other hand, we recall in prayer the brokenness of humanity: people who are sick, people who are warring with one another, people who are suffering because of the actions of fellow humans. Today we remind ourselves that Jesus entered into this suffering world bringing healing and peace, and that he has called us to carry on this work of reconciling people to one another and to the Father. 2. Put bluntly, if we want to gather here as sisters and brothers – and that is the condition of taking part in the Eucharist –then we have to be individuals who bring healing and forgiveness to those we encounter. 3. Jesus encountered the man with the skin complaint, touched him and brought healing. We encounter others and touch their lives; that encounter should be one that promotes peace and trust between people. presence of Jesus4. We often get carried away by the wow-factor when we hear of Jesus’s miracles. Then instead of concentrating on what they show us about the world God wants, we ask questions about how it could happen. Miracles show us another world. The question is not ‘how did that happen but ‘how can we make this glimpse of another world a plan for our action in this world? 5. Likewise we often get carried away by high-sounding ideas: the world would be a better place if only … and if only … and if only; but then nothing happens. In the gospel we hear of Jesus the healer of humanity when he meets one sick person; and something happens. We meet as his people who have a vision of a transformed society, and which is built up whenever any one of us makes a difference to someone who is ill, or excluded, or marginalised. Cn Treasures6. The odds are that each of us gathered here will encounter one fellow creature during the coming week who is our equivalent of the socially isolated sick person: someone on the margins of society, reviled, suspected, suffering. When that person encounters us will she or he encounter more of the same or will it be more like encountering the Christ? The greatest miracle of change may be in how we react in that encounter. *************************************************** Sean Goan Let the Reader Understand www.columba.ie Gospel Notes In the New Testament the healing ministry of Jesus does not focus so much on his ability to heal as on what the healings mean. This is particularly clear in today’s incident. The leper who comes to Jesus is not only suffering because of his physical condition, he is also excluded from his community in the manner outlined in the first reading. This clearly adds to his sense of isolation and abandonment. So when he begs for healing, Jesus is moved with compassion at the sight of his suffering. In healing him, however, he also insists that he take the steps required to be readmitted to the community. In this way, this miracle of Jesus touches not only the victim but also all those around him. Jesus is not only healing the leprosy, he is also challenging attitudes to it and this is made obvious when he reaches out and touches the leper. JESUS Reflection There are many examples from religious traditions around the world,Jesus and good thief including Christianity, which show that religion is often used as a means of excluding people or as a way of creating an elite or perfect group. However, it is clear both from what Jesus said and what he did that the kingdom of God is inclusive. He reached out to those who were deemed rejected by God and even went so far as to include himself among them when he went to the cross. Let us strive to recognise and overcome our own intollerence and to replace it with the compassion of Christ. ************************************* Donal Neary SJ Gospel Reflections www.messenger.ie/bookshop/ People make a Difference Any story involving leprosy is a story of inclusiveness with Jesus. The people whom nobody wanted were deep in his heart. Jesus wanted to make his life better and in this case, the man was cured. The news spread of this new religious man, a prophet maybe, but one who went where nobody else would go. Jesus sees into our heart Jesus sees into the heart and there he finds a home, because God his Father lives in each of us. His motivation is his deep relationship with all of us. He will cleanse any of the unacceptable sides of ourselves so that we see ourselves as image of God, forgiven and clean. Can we see others like that? Who would be those he would reach today like this? Maybe the people who want to change their lives from condemnation by self and others. We can name them often, and our society can be cruel on prisoners and their families, abusers of any sort, prostitutes, victims of AIDS and many others. He offers a way out of condemnation and that is often through the goodness and care of another. When we come to him, we meet his followers, and that also can make a difference. Recall someone who made a difference in your life at a bad time. Give thanks! Jesus, healer of souls, heal what keeps me from loving like you. *********************************************

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dfroza · 7 years ago

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what is the eternal significance of the Temple and what it represents?

it represents the Light of Love (of the Spirit) held as a treasure within that illuminates eternal truth and the rebirth of a dream both for the heart and the physical body becoming immortal, also in the rebirth of beautiful earth at some point. and there is deep significance with Israel and Jerusalem, even with the desire to rebuild the Temple there with plans now underway. and hopefully to see the significance in Who it all represents, when eyes are open as a child to see Yeshua, God and Creator in the flesh.

A post shared on Facebook by The Temple Institute in Jerusalem that touches on the History of the Dome of the Rock built on the Temple Mount and the Hebraic roots of my personal faith, the same as held dear by Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

[The Temple Institute]

A SHORT HISTORY OF IDENTIFYING THE DOME OF THE ROCK AS A REPRESENTATION OF THE LOCATION OF THE TEMPLE

translated from an article by Pinchas Abramovich, https://har-habait.org/#/articleBody/30968

For many generations the Dome of the Rock has been identified by Jews and Gentiles as the site of the Holy Temple. This is reflected in works of art and illustrations and drawings for books from different historical periods. About 600 years after the destruction of the Second Temple, in the seventh century CE at the beginning of the Muslim conquest, the site of the Holy Temple was covered over by the construction of a new building: the Dome of the Rock. This is in addition to the Al-Aqsa mosque built in the southern part of the Temple Mount.

The cleaning and evacuation of the place of the even hashteyia (the foundation stone, site of the Holy of Holies) of centuries of debris and the construction of the Dome of the Rock is originally described in a text discovered in the Cairo Geniza:

“All the Muslims in the city and the district took part, and a group of the Jews took part, and then Omar ordered the removal of the garbage in the sanctuary, and Omar kept watch over it whenever he discovered any remnant. He asked the elders of the Jews about the rock outcropping, which was the foundation stone, and one of [Omar’s] sages marked the boundaries of the place as it was being exposed, and [Omar] ordered that a dome be built on the rock that would be covered with gold … ”

The identification of the structure of the Dome of the Rock with the site of the Holy Temple was so strong that the Jews adopted the custom of referring to the Dome of the Rock as the Holy Temple. This phenomenon is common in the written descriptions of Jewish pilgrims of the Middle Ages.

Particularly noticeable are the paintings and illustrations of the Temple which appeared over the next thousand years. Although the rectangular shape of the house is known from many sources, the Temple was nevertheless depicted as a circular structure very similar to the structure of the Dome of the Rock, in manuscripts and in print.

The famous example of this is the symbol of the printers in Venice in the sixteenth century, who, when printing Hebrew scripture, marked the books with a special symbol: a structure similar to the Dome of the Rock, around it which is written “The Holy Temple,” and the verse from Haggai, 2:9:

“The glory of this last House shall be greater than the first one, said HaShem of Hosts. And in this place I will grant peace, says HaShem of Hosts.”

This symbol also appears on the first book printed in the Land of Israel, a commentary on the Book of Esther. In 1577, Rabbi Eliezer ben Isaac Ashkenazi of Prague established a printing press in Safed during the period of activity of the Beit Yosef and the Ari in Safed. On the last page of the book appears a depiction of the Dome of the Rock.

Another example of the Holy Temple in the shape of the Dome of the Rock is the handwritten manuscript of Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah, which was decorated with beautiful paintings and was copied in Italy around 1457 and is now in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The painting appears at the beginning of the book entitled “Avodah,” referring to the service of the Holy Temple.

The Persian scholar al-Biruni of the 11th century in his book The Chronicles of the Ancient Nations describes at length the destruction of the First Temple by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. In the handwriting of the composition is the painting of the destruction of the First Temple, with the Temple in it painted in the form of the Dome of the Rock, above which is written: “Beit al-Maqdis [Arabicized form of the Hebrew, Beit HaMikdash - the Holy Temple].”

In the Middle Ages, travel books were a popular genre. Passengers recorded their travel documents or copied them from other passengers, and they often described pilgrimages and sometimes included a map or a painting of the sites.

Manuscripts and scrolls of passenger literature were scattered in the 16th and 18th centuries by travelers or by emissaries of the Land of Israel who went to raise European funds for the settlement in Israel.

The Temple Mount and the site of the Temple appear many times in the manuscripts when the Al-Aqsa Mosque is painted on the south of the Temple Mount with the inscription: “The Midrash of King Solomon” and the Dome of the Rock with the inscription “The Holy Temple”.

The model of the Dome of the Rock as the representative of the site of the Temple continued to adorn Jewish religious and secular objects throughout the generations, both in synagogues and in private homes. Prayers for the Jerusalem building were printed alongside depiction of the Dome.

Thus, in the Passover Haggadas, the Dome appears next to the prayer “Next year in Jerusalem,” and in the illustrated inscriptions appears the Dome next to the verse, “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget [its skill]. May my tongue cling to my palate, if I do not remember you, if I do not bring up Jerusalem at the beginning of my joy.” (Psalms 137:5,6)

A painting of the Dome of the Rock with the inscription “Place of the Temple” appears prominently in the domed ceiling of the beautiful Maharav Abuhav Synagogue in the city of Safed.

This tradition was kept even in the modern era as an artistic symbol of the Bezalel School of Arts. The Bezalel School was founded in Jerusalem by Boris Schatz and named after the artisan who was named to oversee the work of the Tabernacle in the desert.

The first carpet to be produced in the Bezalel workshop was presented as a gift to Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, the chief rabbi of Eretz Israel, and still hangs in the home of Rabbi Kook in Jerusalem, on which the structure of the Dome of the Rock appears between two palm trees, and the verse from Isaiah, 2:2:

“And it shall be at the end of the days, that the mountain of HaShem’s house shall be firmly established at the top of the mountains, and it shall be raised above the hills, and all the nations shall stream to it.”

Photo descriptions from above:

A) A map of the holy places in Jerusalem, from 1722, used an image of the Dome to represent the Holy Temple, (בית המקדש). The map is part of the collection of Israel’s National Library.

B) A 19th century map of the holy places in Jerusalem, showing “The Midrash of King Solomon” (al Aqsa) and the Holy Temple (Dome of the Rock). The Maharav Abuhav Synagogue in the city of Safed.

C) A depiction of the Dome of the Rock appears in the synagogue ceiling, with the words (in Hebrew) “place of the Holy Temple.”

1.15.18 • Facebook

and another post shared by John Parsons in Minnesota that relates to Hebraic History:

The great exodus of Israel from Egypt is the central parable of the Torah. The bondage of the Israelites to Pharaoh represents humanity’s slavery to sin; God’s deliverance from bondage is effected by trusting in the blood of the sacrificial lamb of God; the passage from death to life symbolically comes through baptism into the Sea of Reeds; the journey to truth represents the pilgrimage to Sinai, and so on. Indeed, the redemption in Egypt led directly to revelation given at Sinai, and when the LORD God gave the Ten Commandments, he did not begin by saying he was our Creator, but rather our Redeemer: “I am the LORD your God (אָנכִי יְהוָה אֱלהֶיךָ), who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Exod. 20:2). This is because the purpose of the creation itself is to demonstrate God’s redemptive love and to be known as our Savior and Redeemer, just as Yeshua is the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8; 1 Pet. 1:18-20; Eph. 1:4; 2 Tim. 1:9). “All things were created by Him (i.e., Yeshua), and for Him” and in Him all things consist (συνεστηκεν, lit. “stick together”) (Col. 1:16-17). Creation therefore begins and ends with the redemptive love of God as manifested in the Person of Yeshua our Mashiach, the great Lamb of God and our Savior… He is the Center of Creation - the Aleph and Tav - the Beginning and the End (Isa. 44:6; Rev. 1:17). All the world was created for the Messiah: “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Rom. 11:36). Ponder the glory of our Savior, chaverim! Shavuah Tov! [Hebrew for Christians]

1.15.18 • Facebook

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